Books 1 & 2 of Connor and Sami: Operation Underworld Trilogy

by Carly Fall

  A brief jolt of excitement railed through her as butterflies tickled her stomach. She really was about to start on a new adventure.

  Footsteps coming down the stairs met her ears, and Connor appeared in the doorway. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, his face impassive as he stared at her.

  After a moment of uncomfortable silence where she squirmed like a bug under a microscope, he spoke. “Did you talk to Charlie?”

  She nodded.

  “You really want to go through with this?”

  She bit her bottom lip, wishing that the ache in her chest when she looked at him would subside. It would be easier to move forward without him, but it seemed those in charge of Operation Underworld were determined to keep her and Connor working together.

  “Yes.”

  He nodded and glanced around the shop. “You know, when I first arrived here, I was very apprehensive of Dedou, of Operation Underworld … of everything. I questioned my own sanity, because if you had told me two years ago that vampires existed, I would have told you that you had some screws loose.”

  His gaze bore into her.

  “And then I teamed up with one.”

  Her stomach flipped, and her cheeks burned as she thought of the past they shared.

  For the first time since she’d arrived, his features completely softened. Gone was the anger and spite, and in its place, she saw him as he used to look at her before she’d ruined everything between them. Maybe they could push beyond what she’d done and they could at least be friends.

  “Tonight, Dedou will perform a Gad on you,” he continued.

  “Yes, I was told it’s important. What is that, Connor?”

  He grinned and shook his head. “It’s a ceremony where she gives you something to protect you from evil spirits.”

  He’d answered her, but he hadn’t given any details.

  “And?” she asked.

  “And that’s all I’m going to say.”

  “Connor, that’s not really—”

  “Not going to happen, Sami,” he said, his grin wide as he held up his hand.

  She usually loved surprises, but for events like birthdays. This Gad ritual had her suffering from a bit of anxiety.

  “I’ll be there with you for it, if you want.”

  And somehow, that made her feel better. Although she couldn’t even consider them friends, just the thought of having him there reassured her.

  “Thank you, Connor. I would appreciate that.”

  “C’mon,” he said. “We’ve got stuff to do before tonight.”

  She smiled. They could, and they would, work together. Things didn’t have to be ugly between them, and apparently, Connor had realized that.

  Her chest swelled with purpose, her energy renewed.

  “Let’s do it.”

  * * *

  They sat at the kitchen table, the surface littered with papers. He’d obviously received more information from Dedou and Charlie about the case. She noted a laptop, police reports, pictures, and a few papers with notes scrawled across them, which she assumed was his handwriting.

  “This is everything that I’ve been given,” Connor murmured. “It’s kind of a mess right now, and I’ve made some general notes, but we can put everything in order and get you up to speed from there.”

  “How did you want to organize the file?” she asked, thinking that the papers mirrored his own life—just a bit messy, but manageable.

  “I think by date is going to be best for now. That way, you can see how things have progressed.”

  As they worked, Sami couldn’t help but stare at some of the pictures. One, dated three months ago, showed a man she placed in his twenties sprawled out on what looked like a white marble floor, his pale face almost fully covered in blood, his dead eyes staring into the camera. Small rivulets of blood seemed to ooze from them. It reminded her of the pictures of Ebola victims she’d seen when the epidemic had hit Africa so hard a number of years ago.

  “Am I seeing this right? Did this guy have blood leaking from his eyes before he died?”

  “According to the reports, yes. He came into the Emergency Room looking like that about three months ago.” He slid some papers toward her. “Here’s the report.”

  Eugene Bennett, age twenty-two, was rushed from a bar to the ER after he began to ‘act strange’ and blood started seeping from his eyes.

  Furrowing her brow, she scanned the rest of the report, looking for the cause of his medical issues. She tried to recall stories her father had shared about working the many overdoses he’d seen, and she couldn’t think of one that involved a drug triggering such violent results.

  The subject had been dropped off in front of the hospital, presumably by his friends. The staff didn’t know how long he had lain on the sidewalk before being found. The police had gotten word of his behavior earlier in the night through later interviews.

  At first, they had considered that the young, white male had been infected with the Ebola virus, although almost all in attendance had strongly doubted it. However, they had taken the proper precautions as they tried to treat him.

  Once he began to violently vomit, they slipped an IV in him in hopes of keeping him hydrated, as well as giving him anti-nausea medicine. From there, they intubated him and pumped his stomach thinking perhaps they dealt with some sort of drug or alcohol overdose. The hospital staff didn’t report the smell of any alcohol on the subject.

  Eugene suffered a series of seizures over a three-hour period of time, each one worse than the previous. Anti-seizure medication was administered, seemingly to have no effect.

  He died three hours and twenty minutes after admittance, blood oozing from every orifice in his body. The police were called, as none of the staff had seen any such thing.

  While going through his personal effects, they were able to identify the man and called his family, who lived in Oregon. The police interviewed the parents and found that their son had never been in trouble, nor had he left the country during the past year, his passport tucked safely in their safe at home.

  That ruled out the Ebola that they had doubted to be the cause.

  Toxicology reported blood abnormalities and a foreign substance, one that could not be pinpointed by modern-day science.

  Shaking her head, she wondered how the parents handled everything. What a terrible way to lose a beloved son. She’d lost her parents and the pain ran deep and wide, but she’d always heard that outliving a child was the worst thing imaginable.

  “Did all of these people die?” she asked, pointing at the reports on the table.

  “No. A lot of them did, but a few actually survived.”

  She stared at the papers, feeling horrible for those affected and their loved ones.

  However, despite her grief for the families, it didn’t make sense to tie all of this to her people.

  She looked up at Connor, more confused than ever. “I don’t get it. How do we know this is vampire-related?”

  Connor nodded toward the papers. “Keep reading.”

  His gaze bore into her as she turned the page.

  Among Eugene’s personal effects: a cell phone (iPhone 6), a pack of cigarettes, which shocked the parents as they didn’t know he’d taken up smoking, and a wax wrapper with a purple and gold sticker that read Ambrogio, which also carried the traces of the same substance that had triggered Eugene’s violent reaction and his death.

  She gasped in surprise.

  Ambrogio had been one half of the couple that created the first vampires. She’d given Connor the small, leather-bound book her mother had passed down to her that contained the story that some vampires believed to be the origins of their race.

  Sami raised her gaze to Connor, too stunned to try to hide her surprise.

  “I know. I had the same look on my face when I read the police report,” Connor said. “Dedou told me her spirit guides have been signaling that these deaths were vampire-related, but she couldn’t figure o
ut the connection. When she gave me the papers, I understood right away, thanks to this.”

  He pulled the small tome out of his back pocket and laid it on the table in front of him.

  As she stared at it, many thoughts ran through her head. Connor had said Dedou had spirit guides as easily as he would proclaim she had two legs. There was more to Dedou than she understood at this point.

  The book—she couldn’t believe he’d kept it. They’d ended on such horrible terms, it hadn’t occurred to her to get it back until a few days later after their final goodbye. At that point, her mother had turned the corner and careened closer and closer to death. Sami hadn’t wanted to leave her side, nor could she bring herself to face Connor again. She’d thought the book had been gone for good, yet, here it lay on the table between them.

  “Dedou told me you know that I blew up that building outside of Barstow,” he murmured.

  She nodded, unable to take her gaze from the small, leather-bound cover. Why had he kept it?

  “I had Harper dig into who owned it,” Connor continued, his voice soft, as if he were easing her into something horrible.

  Finally, she met his stare as she tried to brace herself for impact. She’d never seen Connor look so serious, his gaze searching her face as if he looked for lies.

  He wouldn’t find any because she was done with that. Never would she lie to him again, even if that meant her own heart shattered into a million pieces, never to be reconstructed again.

  “Who is it?” she asked. “Who owned it?”

  He tilted his head and gazed at her a moment longer. He seemed to be memorizing every curve of her face. It unnerved her, but she didn’t flinch.

  “Selene Ambrogio.”

  Although she would have liked to hide her shock, she couldn’t. Her jaw almost came unhinged as her mouth fell open, and she slumped back into her chair.

  Ambrogio had fallen in love with the beautiful Selene, a servant of Apollo. When the sun god found out that Ambrogio had become smitten with one of his maidens, he cursed Ambrogio so that when the sunlight came in contact with his skin, it would burn him.

  After much begging and pleading with the gods, including Hades, Artemis took pity on him and made him immortal, also allowing Selene and him to be together. When Selene aged as a human does, Ambrogio begged Artemis to grant her immortality, as well. She granted the wish, but Ambrogio had to drain Selene of her blood. More than willing, Selene agreed, and as she died, she became the goddess of the moonlight, and every night, she’d rise and her rays would caress Ambrogio, as well as their children who had also drunk their mixed blood from Ambrogio’s vein.

  It was all written in the book she’d given him, the one that sat on the table.

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Nope. Serious as a case of herpes, Sami.”

  She narrowed her gaze at him. Yes, they’d had sex, but no, she had no diseases to give him. What had the comment meant? Or had it just been something to show how grave he considered the situation?

  Pushing it aside, she shook her head, unable to speak. Who would use Selene and Ambrogio’s names?

  The mythology was so obscure, she couldn’t imagine anyone latching onto it, unless it was another vampire with parents who’d schooled him or her in their history. Certainly, if Ambrogio and Selene had been real, they were dead. No vampire could live that long. Besides, Selene became the Goddess of the Moon. Who would want to give up that title?

  “So, who is it?” Connor asked. “I find it very strange that you give me that book, then the names start popping up. It makes me think you’re involved in all this, but my gut tells me otherwise. So, here’s the deal. I’m asking you one last time, and think long and hard before you answer me.”

  She looked at him, surprised that he’d consider her involved in drugs. Yes, they did have a bad history, but did he really think she’d even contemplate embroiling herself in such activities? Her father had been a cop who had been killed by the rogue vampires running the human blood operation for the addicted of her kind.

  “Don’t bother to ask. I swear on my life, I have no idea who Selene Ambrogio is, or what her involvement is in this.”

  Connor stared at her for a moment as hard as she gazed at him.

  “Why did you give me the book?” he asked.

  Without breaking their stare, she told the truth. “Because I knew that you were unsure of me, of my people. I wanted to give you something about myself to help you understand my history. I thought if I could open up a little bit to you, you wouldn’t be so uncomfortable with me being a vampire. I thought you could tuck aside that small part of me that made you so awkward around me, and just see me for who I am.”

  The stare-down continued.

  She didn’t know what else to say, so she met him head on and didn’t look away.

  After many uncomfortable minutes, his granite features softened once again, and he smiled. “Okay. I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

  It offended her that someone would take the vampire mythology and pervert it into some sort of illegal entity. Her mother had believed in the legend, as well as her Muslim faith. Whoever was responsible for this would be going down, and she had every intention to be there when it happened.

  “Yes, we do. Let’s nail the bitch.”

  8

  Sami sat on the log by the fire, Connor at her side. The air hung heavily with moisture and settled around them like a thick fog.

  Her heart thundered in her chest as she picked at her fingernails. Why couldn’t anyone give her more information on what exactly would happen with the Gad?

  The secrecy only made her more nervous. She tried to calm down by telling herself that nothing would be done to her. Dedou seemed nice enough, and Connor would never let anyone hurt her, even if he hated her. The logic didn’t make sense, but she knew in her heart that it was the truth.

  They’d worked together until late in the afternoon without argument or butting heads. For a while, she had been able to actually forget her feelings for him and concentrate solely on the case. In the end, they hadn’t gotten any farther in solving the mystery of the drug, or Selene Ambrogio. Both of them agreed that they would need to investigate the scene in Seattle to really understand what was going on.

  “You know, Dedou wasn’t as nice to me as she is to you,” Connor murmured.

  Sami turned to him, grateful for the distraction, but wondering what Connor meant. Dedou didn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body, and Sami had never known Connor to be rude or and deserving of anything but kindness.

  “Why do you say that?” she asked.

  He shrugged and pursed his lips. “She wasn’t nice to me, not like she is to you. I’ve been trying to figure out why. She wouldn’t even shake my hand when we met.”

  Sami turned her stare back to the fire. “I don’t know, Connor. Why don’t you just ask her why? She seems to like you just fine now.”

  “Maybe. Maybe I’ll do that.”

  The back door slammed, causing both of them to look over their shoulders. Dedou emerged from the darkness and smiled.

  She placed a stick of incense by Sami’s feet, lit it, then walked around to the other side of the fire pit.

  “Let us begin,” Dedou said as she closed her eyes.

  The silence shrouded them, and after a moment, Dedou slipped a knife from the sleeve of her long, white dress as she began to sway.

  Sami furrowed her brow as she stared at the blade shining in the firelight. What, exactly, would Dedou do with that? Maybe sacrifice a chicken? A goat? Bile rose in her throat. She liked to eat goat as much as the next person, but she didn’t want to see one slaughtered.

  Dedou’s eyes opened and she stared into the flames, and Sami realized it felt like someone had stuffed cotton in he ears. She didn’t hear any of the usual sounds such as crickets or cars. In fact, she could barely catch what Dedou was saying. As she watched the woman’s lips move, she strained to understand, but simply couldn
’t.

  Dedou continued to move and stare into the fire while Sami’s head became fuzzier and she fought to stay upright and not topple over into the flames. Dedou did not blink, and she continued to sway, almost as if she listened to music that no one else could hear.

  Sami glanced over at Connor, who also stared at Dedou. It seemed to take effort to turn her head to him, like her muscles and tendons didn’t want to work anymore. Did Connor feel the same sensations she did?

  Dedou’s gaze landed on her, and Sami’s eyes widened. Something significant was happening. Dedou’s body seemed to be radiating power, and Sami could feel it crackling through the air. She became warm as the waves moved around her, and eventually, through her. Now, she couldn’t move even if she tried, yet she felt no fear. Only deep curiosity on what exactly was happening to her, and what would come next.

  “I have asked the spirits to protect you in your quest to rid the world of evil entities,” Dedou whispered, then raised the knife above her head, gripping the hilt with both hands.

  Dedou lowered the blade, then approached Sami. “They have agreed to guard you, but you need a Ko. You need the sign of their protection branded in your skin.”

  Mesmerized, Sami watched as Dedou tightly gripped her hand, then turned her palm upward.

  As the shiny point of the blade came closer to her skin, panic set in. Was Dedou going to cut her?

  She tried to pull away, but now, cement had taken over her limbs. Her brain told her to be very afraid, but her body wouldn’t respond. Her heart beat steadily in her chest, and her breath moved through her lungs evenly, calmly, like she watched a television show instead of a real knife about to penetrate her flesh.

  From her side, Connor laid his hand on hers, trapping hers between the log and his palm.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear.

  With the point of the knife touching Sami’s wrists, Dedou whispered an incantation, then the blade pierced her skin.

  Blood pooled as Dedou dragged the tip down her wrist, then across it, giving Sami a cross. It spilled over onto the dirt below, and Sami found herself absolutely fascinated as the droplets fell. Why couldn’t she respond? The woman had taken a knife and branded her. Yet, all she could do was sit and stare as the very thing that gave her life seeped out of the wound.